Anycrap, the reason I mention this is because Ford mentioned the Thunder as a potential landing spot for Chandler.

Now that the injury is behind him, Chandler is looking to seize an opportunity. With so many teams under the luxury tax next season and only five or six top tier free agents out there, a number of teams are going to be left with lots of money to spend this summer. Not everyone can land LeBron or Dwyane Wade. The other thing working in Chandler’s favor is that there aren’t really any true centers in free agency this summer and a number of teams with cap space including the Thunder, Knicks, Timberwolves, Wizards and Heat need a center badly.

Now $10 million a year for four years isn’t that bad for Chandler, but with the ever-developing Serge Ibaka who plays similar to Chandler, I wonder if Chandler’s price would be too high, coupled with the fact he wants multiple years PLUS his past injury issues. But keep in mind, Chandler is just 27 and should have some good years in front of him. I’m open to the idea, but as always, the price (plus the length of the deal) has to be right (four years, $34 million or something?). But that’s just kind of the disclaimer you slap on any potential signing.

@andromedaFirst I'd just like to point out that you just said Kahn isn't stupid less than a year after he drafted how many PGs?

Also with the cap relief thing, there are other teams competing for the Maynor type trade OKC pulled off, so there is no assurance Minn would get anything, which is where getting Brand at least they'd be getting a productive player who they could trade later if they want. Not to mention at the end of his contract, that expiring contract could do something similar to what McGrady's did for Hou this year (IF their GM is actually competent.)

Next, from everything I've read Turner and Johnson are the top targets for Minn not Cousins. They think that Darko and Jefferson/Love is what they want from the front court at least for now. The one they don't start they are planning on trading for other pieces.

There is no question they are just starting to rebuild, however, getting Jeff Green doesn't necessarily answer their problems at SF so why trade a more valuable player for a short term answer? If it was the last piece for them then maybe. They have tons of picks this year, plus probably top 10 picks the next few years as well, they're in no hurry.

Average Minnesota fan will accept Brand's contract in a heartbeat. Owner and GM are not that stupid.Actually there is almost no team in the league willing to accept Brand's contract. With the very good reason (actually 50+M of them).Always there are teams willing to giveaway good young players on rookie contract or draft picks for a cap relief. Just to do that in next 3 years (instead of accepting Brand's deal to improve Cousins to Turner) and they could collect lot of assets.And they are at start of rebuild, not like OKC in final phase. What is big difference.

@PaulMinnesota will not accept Brand contract. It is not "a little more salary", it is 16+M per and will destroy their cap space flexibility for 3 more years. And they need cap space to play games like OKC did with Maynor trade ("will accept bad contract for year or two if we got young player or draft pick in return") because they need more assets. This kind of trade is for teams that need just few final core players - like OKC. Also accepting Brand's contract just to move 2 position in draft is price nobody will pay.From Minnesota perspective you could look into this trade as 2 separate trades:1. 2# for 4#, 16# and for example 3M (or some imaginary 30#). This is fair price because Philly is on position of strength.2. Green, DJ White, 3M (or the same imaginary 30#) for Love and Hollins. Main purpose of this deal is balancing of both teams (Jefferson+Love are PFs, Durant+Green are SFs). Because Love is obviously better player than Green, some compensation is needed for Minnesota. Is DJ White + accepting Hollins contract + 3M (or 30#) enough? Maybe not. But Green is starter on 50-win team, Love is backup on 15-win team. Also, Green could be better on his natural position than as undersized PF. Lets say that difference in 1 year on rookie contract is compensated with Hollins contract.

@andromedaPhilly and Minnesota could do this without OKC, so Philly getting nothing out of this trade is dumb for them. Essentially, there have been rumors saying Brand/#2 for the #4 and an expiring contract. Minnesota has cap space and won't sign a big name FA so using it to take on Brand doesn't hurt them. In fact moving up to the #2 for a little more salary would probably be worth it to them given the fact they'd actually get Turner then. Also Brand would allow them to trade Love or Jefferson and still have a good post rotation. So while this would be great and everything for OKC the other 2 teams aren't necessarily going to see the purpose in doing it. Why would they let OKC have the #4, an all-star caliber young post player, and a former all-star who is just on a bad contract basically for Green and expiring contracts. If the roles were reversed would you give up Ibaka, a top 5 pick, and a bad contract simply for a 6th man type player, and expiring contracts?

Chandler is little one-dimensional player, that is injury prone and is much older than core OKC players.OKC have one shot only to do it right - no luxury tax deep pocket means no second chance.It looks to me that move need to be for player that plays on both side of the court and is similar age as the rest of core players.Following trade proposal is high risk but looks to me much more as solution than signing Chandler for 10M$/year.

OKC made their big/final move for PF/C to complete core rotation. Brand contract is huge, but OKC have several players on rookie contract for 3+ more years (Harden, Ibaka, Maynor, and Cousins) so they could live with it without luxury tax. Also Love instead of Green help to better balance team (Durant and Green are both SFs, Love and Jefferson are both PFs). Cousins, Love, Ibaka, Brand looks like promising and young PF/C rotation. Backup SF minutes could be filled little by Tabo and by drafting.

If Philadelphia want to get rid of Brand contract big price need to be paid. To get almost only expiring contracts back for Brand and still to get pick back in the middle of 1st round looks like reasonable offer.Minnesota – it is high price to pay to move up 2 spots, but if they believe that Cousins is too big risk and Turner is future star it is worth of doing it for them. Love is probably better player than Green and have 1 more year on rookie contract, but Green could be better on his natural SF position than playing undersized PF and it helps them to better balance their roster (and wings are very important in their system). Plus they get rid of Hollins and get cheap backup PF in DJ White.

Chandler's agent and Chandler were probably affected by the Camby deal. Portland spent as much as they did because it doesn't seem the owner cared that much about the extra money, he just wanted to nail it down rather than compete.

Raptors management might say they want more directly from the trade but if keeping Bosh is predicated on getting him new teammates your trade might facilitate that. They'd have to do it quick to still compete for good free agents in the first week or two.

We wouldn't be able to sign one of the bigger free agents like David Lee, but we're giving that option away in exchange for #5 pick.

In this scenario, we'd be able to resign KD @ max, Green @ $28M/4Y, Westbrook @ $55M/5Y and still have room to sign someone this summer (or next) to something around $10M/Y without hitting the luxury tax.

Wall is going #1, Turner will go between #2-4. We'll have a shot at Favors, Cousins or Monroe at 5 and that's the idea this trade was based on.

@Crow

Kings get a fresh start.

Udrih/Garcia/Nocioni aren't terrible contracts taken separately, but they really weigh down their cap flexibility together.

Calderon is a good PG; I can see some perks to putting him next to Evans.

The fans might not be as crazy about Turkoglu. I know he has some traction with the fans because of his history, but I doubt they'd be crazy about his current contract or his taking play time away from Casspi.

That said, Casspi ran out of gas at the end of the season, and Turk wouldn't be a bad guy to play behind. Casspi could turn into a Turk type player someday I spose.

They'd have Calderon / Evans / Turkoglu / Landry / Hawes in the starting lineup with Thompson and Casspi off the bench. They'd also have the #13 and they'd need to get a backup PG in free agency.

Their cap situation looks fine after the deal. $35M + #13 next year. Calderon and Turkoglu's contracts don't increase aggressively. They have plenty of space to resign Landry in 2011-12 as well.

Not much going on for Toronto except shedding all their contracts. Turkoglu is bad for them right now, and Calderon isn't worth his contract to them. He won't help them win. Getting rid of those 2, they basically have Udrih, Bargnani, Jack and Derozan for like ~$25M the next 3 years and not much else. If they want to rebuild, this is probably one of their better options.

Hard for me to gauge how Kings or Raptors would view a trade like this. It seems semi-reasonable. Kings have some things they can sell PR wise... Raps really have nothing they can sell their fans, so they'd likely be the one to crap out on the deal even though they kinda need it.

I hear you but I didn't find anything in 5 years of stats that said Garcia was better than average. He might be despite that, because of the context. Despite Adjusted's effort to account for the quality of teammates, there is nothing fully like playing on a good defensive team.

You'd want to check a lot of tape with him in different situations- against strong counterpart opponents and with better teammates- to see if those splits were any different and better than the averages.

If we ger 5# but no Cousins,we will be the same as T-wolves last draft.They had 5# and 6# and wanted to get harden or Evens,but at last they had to draft Rubio.Of course we can draft Wes Johnson and trade up,but if T-wolves dont want to trade,which one to draft?Is Aminu a good choise?

A few quick checks of counterpart and Adjusted data suggests Garcia's defense is a bit negative 1 on 1 and at least a bit negative in a team perspective and maybe more. But it may depend a fair amount on match-ups and it is unlikely he has been used optimally. He only played on one good team, his rookie season. The only defensive factor he seemed especially strong at was in helping force turnovers. Not just steals but I guess other types of turnovers too. His steals were way down this season. Fouling used to be a problem but he has cut back. He'd give some versatility and some 3 point shooting.

@justinGarcia did take a step back this year but he was also recovering from a freak accident that broke his arm and was playing on a team well out of contending so it's kind of reasonable to see a step back in production.

Do you have any comparisons of how Thabo's defense and offense compare to Garcia's? I think that could be an interesting comparison especially given that it could open up other trade possibilities if we had both.

@CrowEven if we don't keep Nocioni as a valuable veteran asset he could bring us future assets.

Nocioni is a mixed bag but he has a top 15 in the league estimated Adjusted +/- impact on offense. It is more than wiped out on defense though. Still near neutral net isn't bad for a role player. And his split might be desirable for a backup forward playing when Durant sits and perhaps at PF with one of the defensive centers.

@Mark!I'm not sure the Kings view Udrih as horribly as everyone is thinking they do anymore. They might, but at the same time they seemed to like Udrih paired with Evans a lot more than they did the Udrih/Martin pairing. This isn't to say they wouldn't move his contract, but I think they actually like that pairing though not sure how Calderon would pair with Evans.

I'm not sure how this compares in terms of the money OKC would be taking on to their ability to sign a FA, but some people may not be thrilled with the idea of passing on a FA to sign a rookie Center who isn't Favors or Cousins. However, that said for what we'd be giving up I'm not opposed to the potential we'd be getting back.

He might on a winning team. He digs that and what hopefully will come from that. As long as he is still in the limelight and poised to make an eight figure salary or real close to it then being the clear #2 may not be essential. If the mature and strategic Westbrook is in charge and not the seeking to be a superstar Westbrook or his agent.

@Mark!Not a bad deal, so long as we can get rid of Nocioni after getting him. He's constantly disgruntled, and is a bit of a prick. I would not mind taking Garcia at all. He's overpaid, but he's a solid player as far as bad contracts go. (And his bad contract is relatively easy to swallow.)

Your trade is interesting, favorable to the Thunder but it assumes / depends on the Kings and Raptors having certain takes about taking or shedding salary. They might have those views but if either or both don't it falls apart. Odds probably are one or both don't.

Can any young player clearly take #2 role from Westbrook at this point? I doubt it would be simple and quiet. Can a veteran? It might not be any easier now that he has had that role in the playoffs but it could work with the right guy, especially a big. The pretty close to co-equal #2 and #3 from the regular season might be the lowest Westbrook will go in scoring role willingly. Green has been passed by and I doubt he regains #2. #2, 3 and 4 might be close enough that it doesn't matter much. That might be the long-term plan but that is not what happened in this playoffs and I suspect Westbrook would have been #2 in at least usage against anybody.

Carter was a gamble. Most didn't think it would work for him at this point and it didn't.

The other 4 cases were inefficient #1s and that usually doesn't work with out a great defense a la Iverson - Brown in Philly. Brown had the D in Charlotte but not enough O. Same deal for Skiles in Miwaukee. Detroit and GS dreamed they had more on offense and utterly forgot about defense.

Westbrook held his own against the Lakers, due in large part because the matchup was so favorable. He was way more efficient in the post-season than regular, but I think it's pretty clear we need someone else.

I don't think it's fair to suddenly expect that level of efficiency from Westbrook on a nightly basis; maybe someday, but I'm skeptical. I think it had more to do w/ matchup than anything.

And even w/ Westbrook's solid play, it wasn't enough to free up Durant any and the rest of the team was... not good.

Going back to that list, it's kind of interesting to see the other side of the spectrum as well:

Upping Harden to 30 minutes (and cutting Green to near 30 could be done by going smaller than Green at backup SF. Doing that in the playoffs might have been enough to help the offense the little bit that could have made a difference in 1 or more of those close games given Green's weak offensive output. Harden ended up better than I thought at least on shooting / scoring efficiency.

Durant only played about 3 minutes at PF against the Lakers.It might have been worth more of a shot to try to get away from Artest. That time or next.

Durant-Ibaka had a few minutes of success against the Lakers in the regular season. That is not offered as "sufficient" support. Just noting what happened. I'd certainly test it more in some regular season games next season.

In New Jersey, Harris was completely inadequate as the #2, among many shortcomings.

In Cleveland, Mo Williams wasn't enough as #2 but neither was Jamison.

Miami was absurdly lacking on offense and will be very different with a good #2 scorer.

Dallas- Terry is not enough as #2...#3 or 4 scorers matter too (especially against the best) as was mentioned by another but #2 scorer is pretty important. Efficient scoring is more important than just pts per game but you need more than 15 pts out of that #2 scorer in the playoffs.

Westbrook did the job of the #2 against the Lakers as good as you could hope.

Ibaka and Harden did pretty well, A more typical Durant performance might have been enough.

I still like thabo starting because he helps balance out the teams that way . I believe he gets way more mins now. I say he averages around 30-33 a game this season . Also green gets his 20 mins at Pf and 10 behind KD so he still gets his mins. I say Chandler plays no more than 20 a game. We need him for tha playoffs not season. Monroe gets 15 at center and big K get his third quarter mins.

Honesty I think we should sign him ! Reading threw the comments not many if you ate looking at the bench and mainly at collinson . Look we have Nick fir defense and defense only . I think Tyson is a much scarier presence than Nick . Granted we all love him but I doubt we keep him . We could sign Tyson to a 21/3 contract w/ a team option in the last year and I think we have a great deal for both sides . That makes him more valuable than my main man Nick. Saves money for the future and allows us to:A) see hoe green plays with a strong defensive presence and B) still go out to spend 12 mil on an offensive PF or trAde up ( we have to trade nick out ) to draft Monroe . Nick has an expiring contract and was a great pf defender . His value will never get any higher !!

So then we have :Chandler/ Monroe/Big KGreen/SergeKD/ thaboHarden/ thaboRW0/ Maynor